


glass bottles

by lunar_skyz



Series: waiting patiently through spiritless lenses [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aftermath of Violence, Anti-Hero, Assassination Plot(s), Blood and Injury, Chess Metaphors, Crime Scenes, Developing Friendships, Evil Plans, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Mystery, Organized Crime, Original Character(s), POV Multiple, Part of a one shot collection, Political Alliances, Politics, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Psychological Warfare, Rebellion, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Secret Organizations, Short One Shot, This Author Doesn't Post Chapters Frequently, Thriller, Truth or Dare, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 17:34:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30025374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunar_skyz/pseuds/lunar_skyz
Summary: Yuki is suffering. Due to the Plaunians, his sister is now dead and his once-bright life is in ruins.And all he can do is stuff his pain into his own heart, bottling up his emotions. Because soon he'll have to fight.Again.Over and over. When will this war ever end?
Series: waiting patiently through spiritless lenses [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2208744





	glass bottles

**Author's Note:**

> characters featured: Yuki & Mirai Lavinsky, Jules Fernsby, Augustine Zimmerman  
> story genre: realistic fiction  
> story theme: hope v.s. despair  
> date created: 3/13/2021  
> TWs: self-deprecation, heavily-described murder, suicidal thoughts
> 
> (This is part of a one-shot collection. Please don't ask for chapters, because I will instead post updates in the collection.)

YUKI looked at the snow falling down across the small window covered up with rotting wooden boards. The winter weather was slowly but surely taking its toll on the city of Astrark. From the height of the tower he could see the forest across the moat. It was infuriating to see the campfires of ‘allies’ glow in the midst of the pine trees.  


The owners of those campfires were too pathetic. Surely they could spare a little bit of supplies for the starving city dwellers. Food was running low, and what little remained of the Astrark army were getting ready for dawn. The Plaunians had settled down for the night, but house-to-house fighting was getting more and more common. The Astrark army had very little idea of where the Plaunians were camped, but Yuki would not be surprised if a night raid were to happen.  


It was one o’ clock, and still, Yuki could not sleep. That was a bad thing, because he’d need all the sleep he could get. However, the lifeless eyes of his youngest sister, Mirai, was an image that was still burned into his mind.  


The Lavinsky family was a relatively rich family that once owned a couple of silk shops in what was once one of the biggest markets of the country, Astrark. When the war came, eventually, the shops were all forced to close.  


The small leather bag attached to Yuki’s belt now carried a sizable portion of the family’s remaining wealth.  


And now, he was but a soldier, with his father being a general and more than half of his cousins and siblings murdered. Some fell at the hand of Plaunian forces, others died of illness, and some took their own lives out of pure despair.  


Even worse, he couldn’t even cry. His eyes were drier than the deserts in the west. But maybe the fact that he couldn’t cry was better. He couldn’t show weakness towards the citizens of Astrark, or at least the remaining ones. Even children were being offered up to become soldiers now. Children, some were only ten years old.  


Yuki himself was only seventeen, barely entering adulthood. His sister, Mirai, had been fourteen when she was shot to pieces on a tall grassy hill. The Plaunians were sadists - murdering people in front of the city that they had tried so hard to defend. Yuki’s family was driven to tears.  


Just three more people, added to the ever growing number of the dead.  


Yuki was sure that that was all they would be known as. Astrark was a relatively famous city, he was sure that the plight that he and the Astrark army was facing was known all across the nation, if not the world. Numbers. Not people.  


He sat down against the door of the tower. His shift would be ending soon, and soon he would have to go underground to the plumbing of the city, where the army barracks and other places were moved to.  


Yuki attempted to swallow, but even that was hard. As the Plaunian army tore down the city, they plugged up water sources such as wells as they went. The dry, sandpaper-like surface of Yuki’s own tongue irritated him to his very core.  


A knock came to the wooden door. Carefully. Yuki picked up his machete and opened the door. It was the next guard. Yuki nodded silently and exited the tower, watching as the soldier closed the door behind him.  


Yuki made his way over to another tower by carefully moving on top of the city’s crumbling walls and quietly walked down a ladder to the sewers. He took a flashlight out of his pocket and moved through the tunnels. His boots made very little noise as he quickly ran through the tunnels, sprinting down the route that he had memorized so well.  


The moment he made it to the entrance of one of the civilian areas, someone stepped in front of him. “State full name, occupation, and intentions!”  


Yuki immediately lowered his flashlight and replied, “Yuki Lavinsky, Soldier of the Sapphire Butterfly Division. I’m here after my 10 PM - 1 AM watchtower shift to get some rest.”  


“Let him pass August, I was watching him in the east tower. Yuki, you were on the southeast tower, right?” A familiar voice erupted through the tunnel, with a familiar face to match.  


“Yes.”  


Silence.  


“Fine. You may go.” Augustine, the guard that had stopped Yuki, stepped aside. Yuki turned off his flashlight and joined Jules, the slightly-more-experienced soldier of the Hornet Division.  


“Thanks.” Yuki muttered awkwardly.  


“You’re welcome.” Jules replied.  


The moment there was a fork in the sewers, the two separated. It wasn’t good for someone to get too attached to another person. People, after all, died in large numbers.  


After walking down several sewer tunnels and going past several other divisions, he made it to the main camp of his own division. He made it to the sleeping quarters and managed to make it to his bunk bed without waking anyone up. The person sharing Yuki’s bunk bed, a soldier that had similar battle experiences with Yuki himself, was sleeping soundly.  
Yuki took off his boots and clambered up to the top bunk of the bed.  


As he lay on what was little more than a plank of wood, Yuki watched his sister get killed on that grassy hill, tied down to a large weight and unable to escape.  


He had been there. On the same wall that he had walked upon just twenty minutes before.  


And what could he do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He remembered fumbling to get his gun out, firing upon the one of the very shooters and missing. Probably due to his own shaking hands and tears streaking down his face. Nevertheless, many of the murderers got away.  


The more naive part of him wanted to tear the Plaunians apart.  


The more experienced part of him was still in despair.  


What could the Astrark army do? Every day, they trudged closer to inevitable surrender. The very desire to liberate their own city had torn the Astrark army apart.  


Every day, Yuki had been surprised that he was still alive.  


And every day, he wished to die.


End file.
